A Soulful Journey

What is an idol? Any god who is mine but not yours, any god concerned with me but not with you, is an idol… Racial or religious bigotry must be recognized for what it is: blasphemy… To think of man in terms of white, black or yellow is more than an error. It is an eye disease, a cancer of the soul… God is every man’s pedigree. He is either the Father of all men or of no man. The image of God is either in every man or in no man… Equality as a religious commandment goes beyond the principle of equality before the law. Equality as a religious commandment means personal involvement, fellowship, mutual reverence and concern .   Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

“Why is the Torah so concerned with idolatry? You might think … that it is because God has no image, and any image of God is therefore a distortion… ‘No,’ Heschel said, ‘it is precisely because God has an image that idols are forbidden. You are the image of God. But the only medium in which you can shape that image is that of your entire life. To take anything less than a full living, breathing human being and try to create God’s image out of it — that diminishes the divine and is considered idolatry.’”  - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel